Libraries told 'stop lending'

Yoshikazu Suzuki Yomiuri Shimbun
Staff Writer

Authors and public library officials recently discussed the practice of libraries lending out large numbers of newly published books, including best-sellers, to find a way to coexist.

At a symposium organized by the Japan Pen Club in Tokyo last Saturday, both sides discussed the protection of copyrights and lending services of public libraries as they did last year.

On one hand, the number of books sold last year was estimated at 740 million copies, declining for the sixth year in a row.

On the other hand, the number of books lent by libraries in fiscal 2001 reached a record high of 520 million.

The prolonged economic slump lies behind the sluggish book sales, but authors organizations and publishing houses feel public libraries are becoming a problem, too.

They also blame second-hand book stores that are selling relatively new used books, as well as coffee shops with libraries of comic books, which are increasing rapidly.

In last autumn's symposium titled "Debate Between Authors and Libraries," authors said that lending a large number of new books would lead to a violation of their copyrights.

But public libraries refuted this claim, saying that lending out new books would increase the number of readers and the public service did not undermine book sales.

Authors proposed introducing a system requiring libraries to compensate authors financially according to the number of books they lend.

Countries in Europe recognize the right of libraries to lend out books to the public. Britain, for example, has a public lending law.

Authors requested that libraries not lend out new books for three to six months after publication.

Library officials were opposed to the proposal, saying that, with their budgets cut, they could not afford to pay compensation.

They also said a delay in lending books would deprive libraries of the opportunity to offer readers the latest information.

At this year's symposium, Kazuo Nishino, director of the Kawasaki Municipal Nakahara Library, voiced opposition to introducing a delay in lending books on the grounds that libraries guarantee the right of the public to read. He was sympathetic to the authors, though, saying if libraries thrived and book stores went bankrupt, it would be due to a failure in library administration.

Library directors have the power to restrict the number of new books the library lends, he also said.

Last month, the Japan Book Publishing Association and the Japan Library Association released the findings of their first joint survey on library book stocks and library lending practices.

The joint survey is regarded as the first step the two sides have taken toward resolving the problem.

In the past, they did not see eye-to-eye on whether libraries had too many copies of books for lending.

According to the findings, in major cities, each library had an average of 4.2 copies of each of the 11 literary best-sellers. Meanwhile, in towns and villages, each library had about one copy of each best-seller.

The more than 2,700 public libraries are faced with severe financial difficulties. With municipalities in dire financial straits, book-buying funds have decreased, falling below the 30 billion yen mark for the year.

Masahiro Mita, a managing director of the Japan Writers' Association, said that companies publishing a small number of copies would go bankrupt if libraries did not purchase a wide variety of books.

"Let's start a campaign to increase budgets for libraries," he said.

As the chairman concluded that the time of confrontation between authors and public libraries was over, authors and libraries showed signs of reconciliation.

The discussion was productive as both sides tried to increase the reading population and invigorate the publishing culture.

Although this year's symposium was titled "Authors, Readers and Libraries," few people spoke from the viewpoint of readers. How to handle best-sellers, which are in high demand by library users, and the establishment of a respite for lending should be discussed in respect to local situations, including the number of book stores in an area.

Understanding the needs of readers also will be indispensable in discussing this issue.

Copyright 2003 The Yomiuri Shimbun
Daily Yomiuri On-Line

Libraries told 'stop lending'

Yoshikazu Suzuki Yomiuri Shimbun
Staff Writer

Authors and public library officials recently discussed the practice of libraries lending out large numbers of newly published books, including best-sellers, to find a way to coexist.

At a symposium organized by the Japan Pen Club in Tokyo last Saturday, both sides discussed the protection of copyrights and lending services of public libraries as they did last year.

On one hand, the number of books sold last year was estimated at 740 million copies, declining for the sixth year in a row.

On the other hand, the number of books lent by libraries in fiscal 2001 reached a record high of 520 million.

The prolonged economic slump lies behind the sluggish book sales, but authors organizations and publishing houses feel public libraries are becoming a problem, too.

They also blame second-hand book stores that are selling relatively new used books, as well as coffee shops with libraries of comic books, which are increasing rapidly.

In last autumn's symposium titled "Debate Between Authors and Libraries," authors said that lending a large number of new books would lead to a violation of their copyrights.

But public libraries refuted this claim, saying that lending out new books would increase the number of readers and the public service did not undermine book sales.

Authors proposed introducing a system requiring libraries to compensate authors financially according to the number of books they lend.

Countries in Europe recognize the right of libraries to lend out books to the public. Britain, for example, has a public lending law.

Authors requested that libraries not lend out new books for three to six months after publication.

Library officials were opposed to the proposal, saying that, with their budgets cut, they could not afford to pay compensation.

They also said a delay in lending books would deprive libraries of the opportunity to offer readers the latest information.

At this year's symposium, Kazuo Nishino, director of the Kawasaki Municipal Nakahara Library, voiced opposition to introducing a delay in lending books on the grounds that libraries guarantee the right of the public to read. He was sympathetic to the authors, though, saying if libraries thrived and book stores went bankrupt, it would be due to a failure in library administration.

Library directors have the power to restrict the number of new books the library lends, he also said.

Last month, the Japan Book Publishing Association and the Japan Library Association released the findings of their first joint survey on library book stocks and library lending practices.

The joint survey is regarded as the first step the two sides have taken toward resolving the problem.

In the past, they did not see eye-to-eye on whether libraries had too many copies of books for lending.

According to the findings, in major cities, each library had an average of 4.2 copies of each of the 11 literary best-sellers. Meanwhile, in towns and villages, each library had about one copy of each best-seller.

The more than 2,700 public libraries are faced with severe financial difficulties. With municipalities in dire financial straits, book-buying funds have decreased, falling below the 30 billion yen mark for the year.

Masahiro Mita, a managing director of the Japan Writers' Association, said that companies publishing a small number of copies would go bankrupt if libraries did not purchase a wide variety of books.

"Let's start a campaign to increase budgets for libraries," he said.

As the chairman concluded that the time of confrontation between authors and public libraries was over, authors and libraries showed signs of reconciliation.

The discussion was productive as both sides tried to increase the reading population and invigorate the publishing culture.

Although this year's symposium was titled "Authors, Readers and Libraries," few people spoke from the viewpoint of readers. How to handle best-sellers, which are in high demand by library users, and the establishment of a respite for lending should be discussed in respect to local situations, including the number of book stores in an area.

Understanding the needs of readers also will be indispensable in discussing this issue.

Copyright 2003 The Yomiuri Shimbun
Daily Yomiuri On-Line

November 4, 2003
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
How's That New Best Seller? Well, the Author's Famous
By JANET MASLIN

Two weeks from tomorrow at a black-tie gala, the National Book Foundation will bestow on Stephen King a Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. In that setting Mr. King's latest novel should make an interesting conversation piece. "Wolves of the Calla" is the rollicking 714-page fifth installment of a projected seven-volume "Dark Tower" fantasy series, illustrated with images not normally associated with distinguished contributions to letters. For instance there's the naked woman in the forest biting the head off a frog.

Apoplexy time? Hardly. Mr. King deserves his due. It takes a certain skill to write books (in his case more than 40) so much in demand that no American airport — or library — is complete without one. Writers this popular are such cultural fixtures that they practically create their own weather.

Why determine the season via autumn leaves or diminishing daylight? When the best-seller list is as packed with brand names as it is now, it becomes its own kind of calendar. At the moment we're two weeks shy of James Patterson, and here comes Jackie Collins, too. "Leaving her readers to guess which real celebrities she has used as models for her fabulous characters," its jacket copy says, her "Hollywood Divorces" will soon bring an ambitious "sexy Latina superstar" who is called Lola Sanchez. Note the clever use of "Lo" in this roman-à-Collins name.

Right now Nora Roberts ("Birthright") has peaked, but John Grisham is everywhere. (Both "Bleachers" and a reissue of "Skipping Christmas" are out, with a new legal thriller due in February.) And Anne Rice has brought her bloodsucking meal ticket, the Vampire Lestat, back for yet another encore in "Blood Canticle."

The current crop of heavy-hitting best sellers divides into distinct categories. Like Jumbo: "Wolves of the Calla" and Neal Stephenson's 927-page "Quicksilver" (the first of three volumes), require major investments of time, energy and interest. For the reader who stumbles over Mr. Stephenson's showy prose (on board a ferry, "the sky's a matted reticule of taut jute and spokeshaved tree-trunks"), rest assured that "Quicksilver" is also larded with lessons in science and history.

More wit would have been welcome, and his long-winded storytelling skills seldom measure up to his erudition. But this is the place to confirm that Lima, Manila, Goa, Bandar Abbas, Mocha, Cairo, Smyrna, Malta, Madrid and the Canary Islands were all using Spanish coinage in 1713.

Other popular books fall into a Mini category, to the point where their size is a selling point. Sure, Mitch Albom's "Five People You Meet in Heaven" could have been about 23 people you meet in heaven instead. But Mr. Albom, the author of "Tuesdays With Morrie" — who may have an even bigger hit with this new book, since it taps into the baby boom generation's fear of death — chooses to keep this book short, sweet and colorful. You may not even want to wait for the movie version to discover that one of the five people is blue.

Short books — or those, like Mr. Patterson's, with chapters that can be finished in the time it takes to watch a few television commercials — are meant to be read easily. They ought to be less easy to write. But Ellen DeGeneres, whose "Funny Thing Is . . ." is liable to capitalize on the good will prompted by her new daytime talk show, is only on Page 2 when she resorts to talk of dental flossing. By Page 3: "I enjoy the smell of a freshly washed monkey."

This is not to say that Ms. DeGeneres isn't entertaining (on Eminem, supposedly her regular brunch guest: "I call him `Em.' I even call him `Auntie Em,' like from `The Wizard of Oz,' and he laughs — sometimes.") It's just that her position as a comedy all-star goes only so far. Steve Martin, whose second best-selling short novel ("The Pleasure of My Company") is much less captivating than his first ("Shopgirl"), this time also writes lines that aren't complete without the sound of his vocal delivery.

Two other breeds of best seller dish dirt and sling mud, respectively. A gossipy book in the first genre is almost certain to be popular, provided it trades on movie stars or Kennedy cachet. Even the sleaziest of these ("The Kennedy Curse" by Edward Klein recently showed the curse meant being vandalized by biographers) may just sell. Now it's open season on Caroline Kennedy with "Sweet Caroline: Last Child of Camelot." The author is Christopher Anderson, who counts "The Day John Died" and "The Day Diana Died" among his accomplishments.

Presumptuous as he is (does this author really have any business referring to Senator Edward M. Kennedy as "Uncle Teddy?"), Mr. Anderson has a way with the buzzwords of sob-sister hagiography. "They were impossibly attractive, outlandishly wealthy, elegant, witty, headstrong, exciting," he writes of Ms. Kennedy's parents. As for the children, they are "the freckle-faced girl sitting confidently astride her pony, Macaroni" and her brother John, "the tousle-haired scamp."

But this is a livelier crime against Camelot than "The Georgetown Ladies' Social Club" by C. David Heymann, who is brazen without verve. Nose pressed to the glass, he often seems to be describing parties to which he would never have been invited. In any case, the reader who joins in invading Ms. Kennedy's privacy with Mr. Anderson can have a certain solace. At least you're not buying a book by the big-mouthed butler to Diana, Princess of Wales.

Seldom have bare-knuckled political diatribes enjoyed the kind of list-topping popularity they share at the moment. At this rate Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham or David Limbaugh (pick one) may still be trading sweet nothings with Michael Moore, Al Franken, Molly Ivins or Lou Dubose (pick one) on Valentine's Day.

Mr. O'Reilly emerged as the noisiest of the bunch (no mean feat) on the strength of sheer vehemence and the occasional unpredictable touch. His "Who's Looking Out for You?" can both quote Neil Young ("Keep on rockin' in the free world") and blast: "Problems will hunt you down, slap you around, and leave you disillusioned and sometimes broke. That is, unless you meet them at the door and knee them in the groin."

The presidency looms large in these books, but it's also a hot topic in fiction. For Richard North Patterson, whose "Balance of Power" is the heftiest of current imaginings from the Oval Office, President Kerry Kilcannon is a plausible crusader again the gun lobby. David Baldacci's flimsier "Split Second," like his "Absolute Power," leads from the shooting of a presidential candidate into a Secret Service-related story. Then there's Stuart Woods, the writer likeliest to include a nice bed-and-breakfast, single malt Scotch and a pretty, flirtatious proprietor in a thriller about the First Family.

Mr. Woods may like things cushy, but he is the antithesis of Patricia Cornwell, whose "Blow Fly" trades on a taste for the stomach-turning. Ms. Cornwell provides a dead maggot in her book's first sentence, then a letter-writing prisoner of the Hannibal Lecter school ("Oh, the longing, the longing, the anxiety he cannot relieve because he cannot relive, relive, relive their ecstasy as they died") and much more in a similar vein.

If this is mainstream, where are the simple best-seller basics? (Good yarn, good characters, good time.) For now at least, they're in the South. Both James Lee Burke's "Last Car to Elysian Fields" and Stephen Hunter's "Havana" feature dynamic plotting. (Mr. Hunter opens with a gangster shooting a horse in Times Square.) And they present the authors' familiar, likable leading men, heroes who hail from New Orleans (Mr. Burke's Dave Robicheaux) and Arkansas (Mr. Hunter's Earl Swagger, who winds up in Cuba).

In these energetic, atmospheric Southern-based, thrillers, three ingredients are indispensable. The hero must be a brooding onetime alcoholic. He must have pain in his past. And there must be a Cadillac somewhere in the story. Put them all together, and you've got yourself a hit.



Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
Books of The Times: How’s That New Best Seller? Well, the Author’s Famous

I received this in an email - it was labeled as being from the Wall Street Journal, but I could not confirm that. It is an interesting piece, however:

November 6, 2003

Recipe for a Bestseller: Baked Fudge and Author Charm

By JOANNE KAUFMAN

New York

Hyperion was reasonably certain it had caught lightning in a bottle when it
acquired "PS, I Love You," a first novel about a woman coping, through a series
of letters, with the untimely death of her husband. Rights to the book were
swiftly sold to 14 countries -- and Hollywood. The author, Cecilia Ahern, was
young (22), pretty, well-spoken and, by the way, the daughter of Bertie Ahern,
prime minister of Ireland. "We believed she was someone who could break out,"
says Ellen Archer, Hyperion's vice president and publisher. Thus, the decision
was made to send Ms. Ahern on a six-city tour five months before the novel's
February 2004 publication, to chat up and charm bookstore buyers and owners at
specially arranged dinners, in the process perhaps convincing them to up
their orders for the book. "They loved her," adds Ms. Archer, "and yes, they
wanted more copies."

For decades, the author tour has been one of the key weapons in a publisher's
arsenal. The book comes out and the writer is dispatched to selected cities
for interviews, for readings, book signings and meet-and-greets with would-be
readers.

But over the past several years, many publishers have chosen not to wait
until a book is in print to put an author on a plane but to do so six months, even
four months before publication, all in hopes of generating big buzz and big
buys. "When we've done it," says Judy Hottensen, marketing director at
Grove/Atlantic Inc., "it always increases the order, whether it's by two books or 20
or 50."

In June, Sandra Brown, a prolific author of suspense novels, was on the road
for "Hello, Darkness," which was published last month. District attorney
turned best-selling novelist Linda Fairstein just got back from the pre-pub tour
for her latest effort, "The Kills," due out in January. And let's not forget
Grove/Atlantic, which arranged a pre-pub tour for the then-unknown Charles
Frazier, author of the phenomenal success "Cold Mountain." Or Doubleday, which sent out Dan Brown to get the drums beating for "The Da Vinci Code." Perhaps you've
heard of it.

"It's book publishing's version of the DJ tour that musicians have done for
decades to get that all-important segment to play their soon-to-be-released
records on the air," says Stuart Applebaum, spokesman for Random House Inc.
"Anything we publishers can do to break our authors out of the pack is something we
want to try."

Pre-pub tours often involve first-time novelists, a tough sell under any
circumstances, and mid-list authors who seem poised to hit the next level of
success. Mr. Brown is a case in point. So, to a lesser extent, is Elinor Lippman,
whose seventh novel, "The Pursuit of Alice Thrift," was published last spring.
"A few months before 'Alice Thrift' came out we decided to have a booksellers'
dinner in Los Angeles and San Francisco just to extend her reach," beyond the
northeast, where she is strong, says Carol Schneider of Random House. Ms.
Lippman charmed the crowd, Random House's L.A. sales rep baked fudge for everyone (that confection was a key plot point in the novel), "and come publication,"
adds Ms. Schneider, "there were huge stacks of the books at all the stores."

The pre-pub tour can also be good for an author who's working well-mined
territory. "Before 'John Adams' was published, we were all thinking 'another
biography of a president,' " says Anne Kubek, a marketing vice president at Borders
Books. But its author, David McCullough, "was good about showing that it was
a different take and it raised our buy." Other candidates include the novelist
who's just branched out to nonfiction (or vice versa), a well-established
novelist who switches genres, or a well-established author who switches houses
(witness Sandra Brown, a recent emigre from Warner Books to Simon & Schuster).
Depending on budget and circumstances, some authors who do pre-pub tours will
also do the traditional tour to coincide with the book's release.

Publishers know they have to be very selective in their choices. Booksellers
will clear their calendars for only so many author dinners; in any case,
visits from too many authors diminish the general effectiveness of the pre-pub
tour. The books have to dazzle. So, come to think of it, do the authors. Ms.
Brown, according to Simon & Schuster publicity director Victoria Meyer, "is
wonderfully charming and spectacular looking." Dan Brown, author of "The Da Vinci
Code," "is an appealing, charming and knowledgeable author," says Doubleday vice
president Suzanne Herz. "The pre-pub tour paid off in spades for that book."

Booksellers praise the innovation partly because it signals a publisher's
commitment to a book, partly because it calls their attention to a galley they
might otherwise have overlooked. "We hadn't paid any attention to 'Cold
Mountain' until Frazier came in," says Carla Cohen, co-owner of Politics and Prose in
Washington, D.C. "But he was so charming and so self-deprecating, and it was
fun to be with him, so it made us want to read the book." And order it big.

Booksellers say they can recall no author whose appearance did a disservice
to the marketing efforts; publishers insist they can think of no author they
should have kept at home working on the next book. "Be assured," says Random
House's Carol Schneider, "that we always have writers come and meet with us
before we decide to send them on the road."